We propose a novel method of stabilizing laser oscillation frequency that uses a sub-Doppler spectrum of atoms in a thin vapor cell. An extended-cavity diode laser is frequency-locked to a hyperfine component of the Cs-D(2) line. In the Allan-variance measurements on the beat note between two lasers thus stabilized, a frequency stability of 6.6x10(-11) is achieved at an averaging time of 5.8 s. The frequency can be controlled even when the laser beam intensity is as small as 70 nW/cm(2).

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We propose a micromachined vertical cavity resonator enabling temperature insensitive operation for surface emitting lasers or optical add/drop filters. The strain-induced displacement from differential thermal expansion is used to compensate the wavelength shift caused by temperature variation. Also, a wavelength-trimming technology using the same principle with precise strain control is suggested. The possibility of a drastic reduction in the temperature sensitivity of wavelengths, as well as precise wavelength adjustment, is presented. We fabricated a micromachined vertical cavity filter with a GaAlAs/GaAs multilayer reflector, which is mechanically tuned by differential thermal expansion. We observed a large negative temperature coefficient of the resonant wavelength. It is demonstrated that its temperature dependence can be widely controlled by the proposed concept. The possibility of temperature-insensitive operation is discussed.